Test Server Smash! Today between 4pm-5pm PT the team is jumping onto the Test Server for some final checks before tomorrow's update. Win a Solos match during that time and earn a cool prize. Details here: https://t.co/534qEDjZvk

Servers will be coming offline for this update at 8:00am PT (11/17) and will remain down for approximately 6 hours.

Welcome to the November Update for H1Z1! This update includes the Combat Zone, Daily Challenges, the start of Preseason 7, the all-new Payload Crate, and lots of tuning and quality of life updates based primarily on player feedback.

New Feature: Combat Zone

This is an all-new game mode designed for practicing combat mechanics.

Spawn in with a full kit ready to go.

Respawn after death, no parachuting.

Game takes place on a small, more intimate map that highlights various elements of The Arena.

Max number of players per game is 55, and games end after one hour.

New Feature: Daily Challenges

Weve added a Daily Challenge system to the game which primarily rewards Skulls. Youll be given three Challenges per day; one easy, one medium, and one hard (harder Challenges reward more Skulls). Youll be able to discard one Challenge per day and get a replacement. Challenges dont necessarily need to be completed in a single match and wont be replaced until you complete or discard them.

A few examples of Daily Challenges:

Halfway There  Place in the top 75 of a Solos match (easy)

Domed  Destroy 10 helmets worn by other players (medium)

One Shot. One Kill.  Kill an opponent with the .308 Hunting Rifle (hard)

With the introduction of Daily Challenges, the Bounty System has been removed and the Skull Store has been updated with several awesome new rewards including the first ever animated Helmet!

Combat & Gameplay Tuning

Weve made a number of weapons adjustments based on player feedback.

Slightly decreased AR-15 recoil reset time to give the user more responsive 2-taps.

Added a fixed, non-rotating pattern for Shotgun blasts including a center pellet.

Shotgun damage and fall-off damage have been increased to increase its close-quarters reliability.

Bullet drop has been reduced for pistols and rifles. The values are now much closer to what they were before the Combat Update in August

In addition, there are several quality of life gameplay improvements in this update.

Fall damage should be significantly more consistent now. Height is now the only determinant of fall damage, so forward velocity will not affect you. You should also no longer take 1-2 points of damage randomly when running and jumping over small objects.

Explosive arrows are now very effective against vehicles.

It is now possible to loot while reloading.

The fifth passenger in a vehicle can now reload and shoot (careful!).

Fuel is now consumed slightly faster than before when using turbo boost.

Match Pacing & Tuning

First safe zone is now revealed after 45 seconds, instead of 2 minutes.

The first phase will be 2 minutes and 30 seconds shorter but it should be easier to outrun the gas in a vehicle.

The toxicity mechanic has been removed.

The gas mechanic has had its damage retuned due to the removal of the toxicity mechanic.

The airdrop plane and drop itself now move slightly faster.

The loot distribution system has been tuned on a per mode basis. Item spawns have been increased in Duos by approximately 15%, and Fives by approximately 25%.

Slightly increased AR-15 spawn rate.

Slightly decreased AK-47 and Hellfire 4-6 spawn rate.

Slightly increased Medkit spawn rate in residential areas.

Increased crossbow spawn rate and decreased long bow spawn rate. There will be roughly the same number of total bows (including both types) as before.

Updates to The Arena

We revamped the lighting and colors of The Arena to be more visually appealing. This change came in part from direct player feedback during the Reverse AMA on Reddit. In addition to many general bug fixes, loot balance has been improved at The Dam, barns, and office buildings.

General Improvements & Bug Fixes

Weve made improvements to our file system that reduce the download size of the game. This change will require that previous files are downloaded again to receive the new format; however future downloads will utilize the new format and will therefore require a smaller amount of space.

You can now enter vehicles that are moving slowly instead of only when they are completely stopped.

Training & Skirmish have been removed from the UI. Future Skirmishes will be presented through the Events system.

Added a Scrap Duplicates button that allows you to Scrap all but one of the selected item.

Fixed an issue that could cause Twitch Accounts to not successfully link to Daybreak Accounts.

Shooting from a passenger seat should no longer result in hitting a teammate in the backseat.

You will no longer get stuck after crouching in a truck bed.

You can now consistently see other players stand up when they are in the back of a truck.

You can no longer throw a grenade and shoot with a single click.

Stun Grenade effect will no longer be canceled by exposure to a second Stun Grenade.

You will no longer incorrectly go into first person if you enter a vehicle while zooming.

AK-47 will no longer appear further from the camera than usual when going into first person while aiming down sights.

Camera will no longer rarely veer off target when crouching and quickly switching between first and third person.

Reticle no longer slightly shifts when punching.

Vehicles will no longer occasionally spawn with two sets of keys.

Backpacks that are upright (e.g. leaning against the wall) will now properly show up in proximity.

Players will no longer occasionally enter a handgun stance when exiting a vehicle.

Different satchel types now give the same number of cloth scraps (2).

Leather satchels are now visually distinguishable from plain Satchels.

Made Survivor Backpacks a bit smaller.

Hellfire 4-6 bullets now properly go through chain-link fences.

Fuel (Biofuel) now detonates when hit by molotovs and flaming arrows.

One shot from a Hellfire 4-6 now brings Makeshift Armor to 16% condition instead of 0%.

Flaming arrows now trigger the on fire animation when they successfully damage a player.

Balanced out the effective range of various arrow types.

Group members will no longer get stuck in queue if the leader queues while one or more group members are in an unready state.

Fixed an issue where a player could queue for a match then join a group, and then be unable to queue for a new match.

Fixed an issue where the end screen would not display if your map is open during a win.

End screens will no longer display on the main menu when dying with your map open.

Leaderboard player list and icon no longer disappear when user clicks on a player profile then switches divisions.

Selected skins will properly load when clicking on a locked skin then back.

Previewing a locked skin will no longer prevent you from previewing another skin afterwards.

Mousing over new items should no longer cause customization to re-sort.

Changed text color for carrying capacity in Inventory to be a bit easier to read.

Canceling on Match Found! will no longer cause Back and Exit H1Z1 buttons to disappear.

Crouch Blocked message will now always properly play in the appropriate situations.

Combat Practice

Were rolling out the new Combat Practice zone! Its going to be your destination to get your hands on all the weapons in the game so you practice your skills with other players. We think it'll be a great place to sharpen your skills or just to warm up before you get serious in for an evening (or morning) of Battle Royale. Its a much smaller map than Z2, designed to highlight each of the locals from our current map so you can practice fighting in the hills, neighborhoods and city areas. When you die, just respawn right back in. There wont be any parachuting in Combat Practice so it keeps the momentum high.

You enter combat practice with a semi-random selection weapons (pistol, rifle, shotty/smg) and some equipment (backpack, helmet, medkits, etc) already on your person. There is no parachute, you spawn directly onto the map in an area determined by the population in the zone. You can then keep looting up or seek out other players to fight. If you die, youll have the option to respawn, at which point youll go back to the start of this statement.

Combat Tuning

Weve made some additional adjustments to the weapons based on feedback from you, the players.

AR Recoil Reset reduction- Increased the speed that the AR recoil resets to give the user more responsive 2 taps.

AK 47 Reduced Fire Rate - We decreased the fire rate of the AK to help alleviate closer quarters spammability.

Shotgun Fixed Pattern - Shotgun now features a fixed, non-rotating pattern. We've added a center pellet. Damage has been increased, but damage fall off has also been increased to make it a more reliable close range weapon.

Bullet Drop - We've slightly decreased the bullet drop across pistols and rifles to be more in line with the old bullet drop, prior to the combat update.

Match Pacing

Were making some pretty interesting changes to the gas pacing early in the game to speed up in initial looting lull. Were taking out the toxicity system and re-tuning the gas damage to compensate. The gas in the early game will now be easier to see through but much more difficult to see through late game to prevent camping.

Other Items

Improved lighting and color vibrancy

Pre-Season 7 will be coming with the next major game update and during the season we may introduce a "Beta" score that reflects consistency as well as your top 10. More on that soon.

Fall damage - Weve also made some changes to the fall damage system to make it more consistent. You will take the same damage from the same heights regardless of forward velocity. You will also no longer take 1-2 damage randomly when running and jumping over small objects.

Explosive Arrows are now super effective against vehicles.

It is now possible to loot while reloading.

The fifth passenger in a vehicle can now reload and shoot.

Weve made improvements to our file system that significantly reduces the download size of the game. This change will require that previous files are downloaded again to receive the new format. However, future downloads will utilize the new format and therefore require a smaller footprint.

Disclaimer: this post has been automatically generated based on a comparison of game data files, the changes listed above are only theoretical and may not appear on the live server and could be subject to change at any time.

Disclaimer: this post has been automatically generated based on a comparison of game data files, the changes listed above are only theoretical and may not appear on the live server and could be subject to change at any time.

There is now a 'Play Again' button on the end screen for Solos games. Clicking it will put you right back into the queue for another match without ever having to return to the Main Menu. The 'Stay Together' flow is still in place for Team Games.

Tuning Fixes

The volume of the starting Main Menu music has been decreased.

Aim-block indicator now has an additional directional indicator on the crosshair.

Slightly increased the boldness of the cardinal directions on the new compass.

Molotovs now deal damage to explosive barrels. Approximately 5 seconds of fire will cause the barrel to explode.

Molotovs initial damage now applies to vehicles.

Fire arrows now do damage to players who are in vehicles.

Fire arrow burn damage is no longer extinguished by entering a vehicle.

Fire arrow initial damage has been increased to match that of regular arrows.

Combat Update Bug Fixes

The âCenter Inventoryâ option is fixed.

Voice chat works in the lobby on the Main Menu again.

Fixed an issue that could cause players to render out at closer than intended distances in cities.

Fixed a hang that could occur when players died with their map open.

Fixed some animation lag that could occur when reloading weapons.

The black box that could appear when zooming in with a scoped weapon has been removed

Rifle barrels are no longer visible when zooming in with a scoped weapon while strafing

Offset cameras no longer incorrectly move when swapping weapons

Fixed several camera issues that were occurring with bows.

Cleaned up the M9 reload animation

Biofuel canisters will no longer explode when punched.

Spectated players name no longer appears at the top of the screen after exiting a game

Punching glass will now break it in one shot even if you have binoculars equipped

Discovered a new zone file in the last KotK test server update, the zone file is labelled as "Practice Zone" and is smaller than the regular world. Could we see this replace the existing practice zone. We will do a full render soon.